Ronald D. Ardoin is a retired jockey

Jockey

A jockey is an athlete who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing.-Etymology:...

 in American Thoroughbred horse racing

Thoroughbred horse race

Thoroughbred horse racing is a worldwide sport and industry involving the racing of Thoroughbred horses. It is governed by different national bodies. There are two forms of the sport: Flat racing and National Hunt racing...

. He is one of a number of successful Cajun

Cajun

Cajuns are an ethnic group mainly living in the U.S. state of Louisiana, consisting of the descendants of Acadian exiles...

 jockeys who began their careers riding in bush track

Bush track

Bush track is a term used in horse racing to describe unsanctioned, informal horse races run in rural areas of the United States and southern Canada. Quarter horses, ridden by amateur jockeys, are raced on makeshift tracks, often set up in the field where the horses are pastured using barrels or...

 races in Louisiana.

In 1973, at Delta Downs

Delta Downs

Delta Downs Racetrack, Casino and Hotel is an American thoroughbred and quarter horse racetrack in Calcasieu Parish, near Vinton, Louisiana in the southwest portion of the state. The facility is owned by Boyd Gaming.-History:...

 in Vinton, Louisiana

Vinton, Louisiana

Vinton is a town in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 3,338 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Lake Charles Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History of Vinton:...

, Ron Ardoin earned the first of his 5,2226 career wins. During his thirty-one years in racing he won twelve riding titles at Louisiana tracks, earning six at the Fair Grounds Race Course

Fair Grounds Race Course

Fair Grounds Race Course, often known as New Orleans Fair Grounds, is a thoroughbred racetrack and racino in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is operated by Churchill Downs Louisiana Horseracing Company, LLC....

 in New Orleans and another six at Louisiana Downs in Bossier City

Bossier City, Louisiana

Bossier City is a city in Bossier Parish, Louisiana, United States.As of the 2010 Census, the city had a total population of 61,315. Bossier City is closely tied to its larger sister city Shreveport, located on the western bank of the Red River. The Shreveport-Bossier City metropolitan area is the...

. Ardoin also won a riding title at Lone Star Park

Lone Star Park

Lone Star Park is a horse racing track located in Grand Prairie, Texas.-History:Lone Star Park opened in 1997. The track offers separate meets for Thoroughbred racing and Quarter Horse racing. In October 2002, Magna Entertainment Corp. , based in Aurora, Ontario, leased the facility and acquired...

 in Grand Prairie, Texas

Grand Prairie, Texas

Grand Prairie is a city in Dallas, Ellis, and Tarrant counties in the U.S. state of Texas and is a part of the Mid-Cities region in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Grand Prairie is a suburb of both Dallas and Fort Worth and had a population of 175,396 at the 2010 census.- History :The city of...

. At Oaklawn Park Race Track in Hot Springs, Arkansas

Hot Springs, Arkansas

Hot Springs is the 10th most populous city in the U.S. state of Arkansas, the county seat of Garland County, and the principal city of the Hot Springs Metropolitan Statistical Area encompassing all of Garland County...

, he scored the most significant win of his career when he rode Zarb's Magic to victory in the 1996 Arkansas Derby

Arkansas Derby

The Arkansas Derby is an American flat Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds held annually at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas. It is currently a Grade I race run over a distance of 9 furlongs on dirt....

. That win led to his second appearance in the Kentucky Derby

Kentucky Derby

The Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter mile at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry...

, in which he had finished tenth in 1985, riding Zarb's Magic to a thirteenth place result.

On August 20, 2000, Ron Ardoin became the 16th jockey in North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 to win 5,000 races when he rode Heart of an Angel to victory at Louisiana Downs.

Ron Ardoin was inducted in the Fair Grounds Race Course Hall of Fame in 1998 and the Lone Star Park Hall of Fame in 2007.

After an injury in March 2003 kept him out of racing, Ardoin officially retired in early 2004 having won 5226 races. A resident of Haughton, Louisiana

Haughton, Louisiana

Haughton is a town in Bossier Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 2,792 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Shreveport–Bossier City Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Haughton is located at ....

, Ardoin currently works as a jockey's agent based at Louisiana Downs.